LSX454 swapped 95 BASS burb.

[shady]

I used them once before on my crewcab. Worked good there after the heat/tighten cycles.
The multi layer stainless (look like stainless) ones I had on this were leaking, even being retighened a few times.
I didn't hear it, but there was soot stains in places there shouldn't have been on them and around them.

Having a solid mounted exhaust without flex joints probably didn't help that much.

Which is also another thing that has to be done yet lol.

 

[folkenheath]

I've never used flex joints, I do use flexible hangers, the dual rubber universal exhaust hanger kind.

 

[shady]

The way my pipes run is pretty much impossible to use them. All of my mount points to the frame, the pipe is within 1" of the frame. So I went solid tabs.

Dave's maiden is all solid mount, with flex coming off the headers. So I'm going to try that.

As it was I only had it mounted at the exit, and a mid point, so that the header end had a little flex. But I can't leave it that way.
I had planned on going 2.5" and running all the way out the tail. But I like the way it sounds, so I'm going to stay pretty close to what it is.
When I put it on the lift to change the pump, I'll go back over it maybe and see if I can add something for flex hangers

Tail pipe end I'm not sure, because it's 1/4" from the frame and I don't want it any lower. That one will be tight.

 

[shady]

Unfortunately all I got done is, cam thrust plate on, gears/chain hooked back up, lifters and trays back in, oil pan is off and drained.
So now it's heads, pushrods, rockers tomorrow.
Maybe get the timing cover and oil pan back on.

Seen a bunch of videos about cleaning up the oil passages in the pump to get rid of milling ridges.
I might do that while it's out.
Easy enough, MAW.

 

[shady]

Something I'm wondering about that NOW is the time to deal with.
I've always heard the 10psi per 1000rpm rule.

I'm looking at seeking up on 7k often.
But as of now, all I've ever seen is about 51psi. Even when I was at 6500rpm.

Should I change the pump, ?
Or change the spring like people do?

Some pumps come with different springs even.

Or, don't worry about it and do burnout's
Lol.

 

[shady]

Heads on, rockers and all back in, valve covers on.

No I just gotta figure out the oil pump before I put the front back together and get the oil pan on.

Forgot to take a pic, but I did get a vid of the wife torquing head bolts.

I let her go through the sequence the first 2 times, then I did final torque.

View attachment VID_20240831_133448327.mp4

 

[shady]

Last night I said fug it and bought a Melling 10295 oil pump from Amazon.
It's supposed to be here Tuesday. Which is my next day to work on this. Every place else was saying Friday or later.
That pump is a standard volume, high pressure.
Meaning it just has the 70psi bypass spring instead of the stock 48-53ish.
The pump I had on it was a stock replacement.
I almost went the route of shimming it's spring. Lots of vids on that.
But I didn't want 100psi or something crazy, and all of the vids are just shooting in the dark, with no real data on what happened afterwards.

One dude said he shimmed one .063" and was getting nearly 100 at WOT. Yet all of the vids say to go .100"
Nah, that routes not for me.

With the engine being relatively fresh and tight still, I don't need a high volume pump.

So with any luck, by Tuesday night I'll have the engine buttoned up and ready to get mated to the trans.
Then I gotta pull back and get all my other ducks in a row before it goes back in.
Line lock, etc.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

I'm gonna take a guess and say that drastically raising oil pressure may end up causing you problems.

 

[shady]

I'd hardly call 50 to 70 drastic lol.
It's when you try and force a high volume pump through a tight clearance engine that you end up with issues.
I just want 70 psi at 7000rpm.
10 per 1000 like the normal saying goes.

Hence why I said I DIDN'T go the route of shimming the spring in my stock pump. So that I don't end up with 100+ psi.

The super high pressure/volume ones can cause a few issues, let alone parasitic loss from trying to force it through all the passages.
A high volume one can suck your pan dry on extended high RPM. So they say to have at least a 1qt per 1000rpm capacity if you go that route.
Even though I only have a standard volume pump, I DO have a 7qt pan. So I'm good there.
GM themselves are the ones that recommend the 10psi per 1000rpm.
That's where that came from.
The stock pumps are bypassed at 50ish, because the average person isn't running their stock lq4/ls1 etc. to 6000 rpm regularly.

Almost all of the Melling pumps come with a 70psi bypass as standard. And usually come with springs to raise or lower it to your liking.

I'm leaving the 70 spring in mine since I'll be setting my limiter at 6800 or so.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I think I have the same oil pump and picked the high pressure, years later like 9 it still runs at 60psi and it revs to 7k

 

[JoshHefnerX]

50 to 70psi is almost a 50% increase in pressure. And I'm sure it doesn't cost anything when you're GM to make the oil pump go up to 70. So, I'm curious the reasoning on their end.

I would be a little concerned about oil breaking down quicker due to shear or possibly cavitation.

More of a mental exercise than criticism.

 

[shady]

Like mentioned... Their reasoning for the 50 was probably that they them selves had a target of 5500-6000 redline . And going by their own 10 per 1000 rule 50 psi would be fine for 99.99%of the vehicles they put them in.
"The few people that see 6k in a stock truck probably wouldn't do it for long" type thinking.

They probably weren't planning on people swapping cams, intakes, springs, etc, and pushing 7000 for long extended super burnys in their pickups. Lol.
So they had no need for the 70.

It'd be interesting to see what stock wide open throttle oil pressure on an LS7 is. Since it Does have a higher redline and intended use.

But Melling knows that that's exactly what most people buying their pumps are probably planning to do. Which is probably why most of their pumps come with the 70 psi spring.
I'm guessing that melling has done a LOT of research on it.

50 might be ok....? But since melling and other manufacturers sell 70 psi pumps every day, and people aren't burning them down with lawsuits or hate mail for destroying their engine, I'll jump on the band wagon and try

My sole purpose for building this thing is to beat the snot out of it, and take out my tension and pent up rage in a non self harming way. Hence wanting burnouts and not a 200 mph canyon carver.
So I figure the engine needs all the help it can get to stay together lol.

 

[folkenheath]

It costs energy to pump more oil at higher pressure, that means less fuel economy. I would rather have the 10 psi/1000 RPM peace of mind than the fuel economy you likely won't notice.

The thing is, the automakers do that with 10 different things and they add up to a noticeable difference in fuel economy. I think you did the right thing

 

[shady]

The only possible drawback I can foresee with the high pressure pump and tight engine is higher oil temps. But I have the remote mount filter, the lines to it, and a 1'x1' plate style oil cooler that I bought last round and never installed, to combat that.


Speaking of coolers......
For my transmission I wanted to replace the lines thinking I'd get rid of possible gunk in them.
And was going to replace the auxiliary cooler too for that reason.
But it still has the one in the radiator, and I'd like to NOT have to replace it too lol.

So,...
1. since my fluid came out good and bright red, with no hint of bad stuff or being burnt. Just run the same lines and coolers.

2. Do that, but try to flush them some how

3. Skip the one in the radiator, and buy a large aux cooler with a fan, and run the new lines.
I could run the fan relay off the Terminator X.

I do drive this as much as possible, even though it's a toy, but I plan on putting it away the first time they salt the roads each year from now on.
There's a lot of cold mornings before they get to that so I ran the one in the radiator thinking it'd heat the fluid up faster for them days.

Does it matter if you beat the snot out of a trans with 75* fluid
I've always tried to get it above 85, which is when it will allow lockup to happen.
Figured that temp made the trans happier for some reason.

 

[folkenheath]

I have never ran the trans cooler through the engine radiator in any performance vehicle. I just use a large external. It keeps the trans fluid and antifreeze seperated and it also keeps the trans cooler. The only time I would run it through the radiator on a toy is if I lived in an extremely cold climate, keep in mind I live in WI. Cold to me would be parts of Alaska or something arctic.

I typically put it in front of the engine radiator and just utilize the airflow of the engine fan.

 

[shady]

New pump is on.
I did the shim thing, even though I think it's unnecessary. Factory doesn't
MAW.
Now to get all my covers back on.

One thing I found that sort of sucks.... I already had a new pan gasket from when I put this together the first time. And I just paid for a new one lol.

Oh well. I guess I should have searched my stuff a little better.

 

[Blue85]

But it's a great feeling when you need a part and find it in the shop (or something you can make work). It goes a long way for making us all hoarders.

 

[shady]

Test set the intake on so I can get all the mods it needs done. Before it's in the truck.

Found that the lower molded braces needed clearances for the steam tubes.
It might have cleared with gaskets in, but I just made sure it will.

I also need to drill the one point in the front of the intake to glue in my intake air temp sensor.
Like I did on the TBSS intake.

 

[shady]

I found out that my mount bracket for the throttle cable needs modified. And also that the new intake has a HUGE opening.
I can stick my whole arm in it up to the elbow almost.
The TBSS one I have to squeeze to get my hand in.

I thought they were the same intake with a different head mount flange. Nope. Lol
That blue gasket came out of the old one. The groove is the same size.

 

[shady]

Played with a bunch of different little crap today. But I got all the under hood stuff I wanted to do before the engine back in completed.

First off was opening the airway up.
This is the old opening.


Then the hole behind the air box


So I figured I needed to open up the front end behind the lights a little also. So it got some speed holes.